Storm took Greater Lowell drivers, some school officials, by surprise

CHELMSFORD -- Jack Dody appeared stunned Wednesday morning, moments after his Volkswagen sedan slid off Dunstable Road and into a tree.

The Dunstable resident was fine, but his Volkswagen was not.

He told a Sun photographer arriving at the scene near the Mission Road intersection that he remembers driving slowly an instant before he was caught by surprise as his car drifted into a slide.

In Nashua, Pepperell resident Ian Hammond had to be freed from his pickup truck after it slid into a bridge abutment on an exit ramp of the F.E. Everett Turnpike about 11 a.m.

New Hampshire State Police said Hammond was driving at a speed "unsafe for the existing roadway conditions," and was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua after firefighters freed him from his truck.

After last year's winter sabbatical, the snow gods returned with a fury Wednesday, as scenarios like Dody's and Hammond's played out across the Merrimack Valley.

Snowfall accumulated less than 5 inches in the region, but Lowell Department of Public Works Commissioner Ralph Snow pointed out that the snow was only partly to blame for sending commuters into a tailspin.

The worst part of Wednesday's storm was the timing.

"If the storm hit at midnight or 10 a.m. it would not have been a big deal," he said.

Snow said all 21 of the city's sander trucks hit the streets before 4 a.m., just after the first flakes started falling. At 7 a.m.

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165 contracted plows were called. (A Sun reporter who lives on Bridge Street noted a large amount of salt spread on the road by 4 a.m.)

"The worst of it came right around rush hour as school buses hit the roads," Snow pointed out, a factor that made the call of whether to cancel school a difficult one for the area's school superintendents.

Lowell Superintendent of Schools Jean Franco made the call to keep schools open. On Wednesday afternoon she said the decision was made at 5 a.m.

Franco said talks with superintendents in neighboring districts and a look at the weather forecast played a role in her decision. Lowell picks up its first students at 6:30 a.m., right when the storm began to peak.

Margo Martel said her daughter, a junior at Lowell High School, boards a city bus on Chelmsford Street to get to school. Martel said her husband had to drive her daughter to school after the bus never showed up. The biggest concern for Martel's daughter was if she missed the semester's final exams, but when she arrived at school, she discovered the exams had been postponed.

Lowell High School Headmaster Ed Rozmiarek said the exams will happen at a later date and added that he heard no stories of problems from students or faculty about their trip to school.

According to Lowell Police Capt. Kelly Richardson, there were approximately 18 accidents reported between 6 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with four resulting in injuries. He confirmed that another vehicle struck a school bus on Powell Street at approximately 8:23 a.m. but added that nobody was hurt.

Other communities that did not cancel school included Billerica, Dracut, Tewksbury and Wilmington. Chelmsford, Westford and Tyngsboro called snow days.

"The conditions were slippery but we treated them, we're off plowing them now, and they should be getting better," said Chip Barrett, the highway superintendent in Westford.

Seasonably warm temperatures before the storm made for a "greasy" sheen of ice once precipitation began early Wednesday morning, he said.

In Chelmsford, crews switched over about 8 a.m. from salting roads to salting and plowing as snow accumulated on roads, Public Works Director Gary Persichetti said. They started treating roads used most by buses first, he said, though the town called off school.

"We're out there hitting it hard," Persichetti said.

Dracut's public-works department had 20 of its own workers supplemented by another 30 contractors out plowing. Adding the contractors helped quickly improve the road conditions, said Bob Geroux, foreman of operations.

One police radio report indicated that a vehicle rolled over on its side during a 9 a.m. accident on Old Marsh Hill Road. As of 3:30 p.m. There was no additional information on that accident.

Dracut School Superintendent Steven Stone said he was relying on forecasts that called for a "mid-to-late morning blast" and noted he was surprised when the snow hit earlier than he anticipated. He said he watched a 5 a.m. forecast on television calling for the heaviest periods to occur between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.

"We normally make the call no later than 5:45 a.m.," he added.

Stone said there were no bus accidents but also said there were neighborhoods where buses couldn't climb hills.

He did say that North Reading Transportation, the firm which operates the school buses, "did a fantastic job. All those bus drivers deserve our thanks," Stone said.

Billerica Superintendent of Schools Tim Piwowar said there was 2 inches of snow on the ground at the time the decision was made to keep schools open.

"I thought that wouldn't be enough snow to cause the traffic backups that it eventually did," he said. "It was unfortunate and the storm came with more intensity sooner than we heard."

Piwowar said 87 percent of the student body and 90 percent of the faculty still made it to school, although one school bus got stuck.

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